SYLLABUS
TEXTBOOK
The textbook is Recommended, but not Required - Most students will benefit from reading the textbook.
MICROECONOMICS
by Michael Parkin
13th Edition (the 12th or earlier editions are also OK)
*** Additional reading will be assigned during the semester ***
ZOOM
LECTURES, READINGS and RESOURCES
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INTRODUCTION
HOW TO PREPARE
STUDENT TECHNOLOGY AGREEMENT
You may not use technology - computers, tablets, phones, earphones - during class. You may use a computer or tablet with written permission from the professor for the purpose of taking notes for the class. The Student Technology Agreement must be completed and signed by the professor if you wish to use your computer or tablet for the purpose of taking notes for the class.
CLASS LECTURE
What is Economics?
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin: Chapter 1 “What is Economics?” (recommended)
Hazlitt uses a metaphor originally from Bastiat to explain that economics requires us to look at all the consequences of actions when evaluating situations. PDF of the whole book.
CLASS LECTURE
ASSIGNMENTS
The Ford Pinto was a very small car in the 1970's that was thought unsafe after twenty-nine deaths occurred in rear end collisions.
Should the government require Ford to spend $13 on each car to make the Pinto safer? Yes/No? Come to class prepared to defend your position
CLASS DISCUSSION
Can all risks being eliminated from economic life? Who can best weigh the costs and benefits of risks? The answers are not always obvious.
Production Possibilities Frontier, Opportunity Cost, Marginal Analysis, Economic Growth
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 1 - Appendix "Graphs in Economics" (recommended)
READ Parkin: Chapter 2 “The Economic Problem” pages 33-39 (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
ASSIGNMENTS
The Costs and Benefits of Driving an Electric Car
In this assignment, you will work individually or with a group to research and document the costs and benefits of an electric car compared to a car with a gasoline powered engine.
List all of the costs that you would incur by owning an electric car for 7 years driving 15,000 miles each year.
List all of the costs that you would incur by owning an gasoline car for 7 years driving 15,000 miles each year.
Which one has a lower cost? Write a brief summary of your conclusion, include comments about the assumptions that you made, and any data quantification issues that you experienced.
You will not be assessed by the precision of the facts that you establish - they should be correct, but there may be more than one answer for each data point. Rather, the assessment will be based on the thoroughness of your approach and the completeness of your answer.
Print out your analysis and bring it to class - make sure to include all team members names on the printout.
Division of Labor, Comparative Advantage, Exchange
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 2 “The Economic Problem” pages 40-53, 57 (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Utility, Preferences, Consumer Choice, Demand
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 8 “Utility and Demand” (recommended)
READ Parkin Chapter 9 “Possibilities, Preferences and Choices” (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Quiz 1 : "Thinking Like an Economist"
Section 03, 04 : Monday September 26, 2022
Section 03V, 13: Tuesday September 27, 2022
Demand, Supply and Equilibrium
HOW TO PREPARE
Read Parkin Chapter 3, "Demand and Supply" (recommended)
Watch "The Demand Curve" at the Marginal Revolution University
Watch "The Supply Curve" at the Marginal Revolution University
CLASS LECTURES
ASSIGNMENTS
The homework assignments #1, #2, #3 below are to be completed and turned in. The due dates will be announced in class. #8 is an optional assignment if you want more practice.
Elasticity
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 4, "Elasticity" (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
ASSIGNMENTS
The assignment below is to be completed and turned in. The due date will be announced in class.
Economic Systems and Resource Coordination
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 5 “Efficiency and Equity” (recommended)
A short film based on a 1958 essay by Leonard Reed that uses a pencil to illustrate the complexity of the network, which no one overseas, necessary to produce it.
CLASS LECTURE
Market Intervention
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 6 “Government Actions in Markets” (recommended)
In the 1930s, economists debated how a socialist country like Russia/USSR could make economic calculations without free markets, prices and private ownership of the means of production. The "Use of Knowledge in Society" explains the critical role that prices play in an economic system to make economic calculations possible.
READ: Increased Tuition Subsidies Increase The Price Of College Tuition, by Tim Worstall, Forbes, 2015
The cost of college has gone up significantly in recent years. Why? Part of the reason is because subsidies drive prices up.
The cost of healthcare has gone up significantly in recent years. Why? Part of the reason is cross subsidization that interferes with the market process.
CLASS LECTURE
ASSIGNMENTS
The homework assignments #4, #5 and #6 below are to be completed and turned in. The due dates will be announced in class. #7 is an optional assignment if you want more practice.
Test 1
Supply, Demand, Equilibrium, Elasticity, Market Intervention
Section 03V, 13: Thursday October 27, 2022
Section 03, 04 : Friday October 28, 2022
Firms and Organizing Production
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 10 "Organizing Production” (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
ASSIGNMENTS
The Economic Profit homework below is to be completed and turned in. The due date will be announced in class.
Economic Profit Assignment #1Economic Profit Assignment
Output and Costs
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 11 "Output and Costs” (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Perfect Competition
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 12 "Perfect Competition” (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Monoply
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 13 "Monoply” (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Imperfect Competition
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 14 "Imperfect Competition” (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Oligopoly
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 15 "Oligopoly” (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Market Structure and the Competitive Process
HOW TO PREPARE
This business strategy paper uses microeconomics market structure theory to explain how the market process generates low prices, differentiation and high value for consumers.
WATCH "Chasing Work: A Florist's Business Survived Breast Cancer, but AB5 Might Kill It ", Independent Women's Forum
CLASS LECTURES
Test 2
Firms, Market Structure, Competition
Section 03V, 13: Tuesday November 29, 2022
Section 03, 04 : Wednesday November 30, 2022
Public Goods
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 16 "Public Goods" (recommended)
CLASS LECTURES
Externalities
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 17 "Externalities" (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Markets for Factors of Production
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 18 "Markets for Factors of Production" (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Information and Uncertainty
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Parkin Chapter 20 “Uncertainty and Information” (recommended)
CLASS LECTURE
Summary of Microeconomics
CLASS LECTURE
Final Exam
Section 03V : Thursday December 15 @ 6:30PM, Hopkins Hall Room 250
Section 03 : Friday December 16 @ 1:00PM, Maryland Hall Room 341
Section 13 : Friday December 16 @ 6:30PM, Knott Hall Room B03
Section 04 : Monday December 19 @ 9:00AM, Sellinger Hall Room 104